Ester Pyx
Ester Pyx (ess-turr pihks) is one of the six Dragon-Gods of Halintar, the first Silver Dragon and patron god/protector of the Great Northwest. She is said to have been the first of the Dragon-Gods created by the father of dragon-kind, Bahamut, when the two deities descended upon Halintar to claim it as their own. She also guides the guild known as the Crusaders of the Sterling Serpent, who have worshiped her for many years and serve as the acting army that helps her and her brood protect their shared territory. A noble and righteous deity, she constantly emphasizes the importance of law and tradition in regards to keeping order within society. While she is very structured in her methods, she's not afraid to use her powerful army and her own muscles to defend the hearth and destroy threats, showing mercy only when it's truly deserving. Description Ester Pyx is the epitome of a Silver Dragon. Her scales shine brighter than mirrors, forever untarnished. Her frame is so massive she dwarves entire cities; looking at her from a mortal's perspective, it would be impossible to see her in her entirety unless you gazed upon her from a significant distance. Those who witness her up-close and personal say that her body oozes raw strength and nobility, and one can't help but bow before her upon gazing into her eyes, which alone shimmer like pools of gold and are larger than even a full-grown man. Like all Silvers, Ester Pyx has dense, squared features. She has a sharp, wide snout that ends with three sharp points under her chin; curled, perfectly symmetrical fins on either side of her head and one long on that starts at the crown and trails all the way down to the base of her neck; A ridged, plated underbelly; sharp teeth that peek through her maw, pearly white and pointing skyward; and two glowing golden eyes that shine like the sun. Though the rest of her features are perfectly aligned, there is a notably large scar that strikes through her left eye, though the eye itself seems unharmed. This is the remnants of an injury sustained from direct combat against her sister deity Tephra, in the infamous Battle of Roaring Skies. While she could restore her face to be as perfectly symmetrical prior, Pyx chooses to keep the scar to symbolize how the tides of war can mar even the most valiant of heart and soul- a move that remains both inspiring and controversial in the eyes of her brood and peoples even today. Personality As a god that values justice above all else, Ester Pyx is an incredibly serious, stern deity. Her priorities lie solely in the protection of her country and those who live in it, including her brood and her Crusaders as well as general civilians. She values virtuousness and integrity above all else, and rewards those of her followers who display these traits with the highest of honors. Like her breath weapon, she is cold and calculated in conversation and rarely changes facial expressions. She treats her interactions with others as an honor and privilege for the other individual, and one that deserves mutual respect between both her and whomever she engages with. Evil is never tolerated, even in small cases, and all those who break the law serve extensive jail time and then are permanently banned from living within the Whiteshock Citadel. Cases in which mercy is given only ever occur when the offender is a child or foreigner, in which case they are put through a strict multi-month educational program to teach them proper morality. Homestead Ester Pyx and her brood of silver dragons makes her home in the peaks of the Whiteshock Citadel, nestled amongst the heavens. Pyx herself makes her home within the highest peak of her territory, which also happens to be the highest peak in all of Halintar (and potentially the Big Stretch itself). The dragon's domain is a mere minute's flight from the rest of the Citadel, allowing the deity and her dragons to always be able to come down and guide her peoples towards the path of radiance. Their nest remains a beacon of hope and protection even in the most dire of times. Brood Ester's brood stays involved with the community, usually on the northernmost mountains where villages remain more sparse and vulnerable to attack. The most important troops within the Crusaders are gifted with the presence of a brood member as one of their _own_ members, allowing them the brute force to fight against any monsters or beasts that threaten the safety of the public. Hoard Like all dragons and Dragon-Gods, Ester Pyx keeps a personal stash of beloved items within the depths of her home. The only mortals allowed to witness it are the highest ranking members of the Crusaders, as part of a ritual meant to bond their soul closer to their deity than any other. Those who return say that Pyx's hoard is humble compared to reports of other deities' collections; it consists mostly of books and scrolls from eras long gone past, alongside some ancient relics that depict moments and people from history she was fond of. She also keeps a Hall of Heroes deep within the mountain below her, where her bravest soldiers are buried alongside their favorite things in life. The most radiant of them all are transformed into beautiful angels that serve as her private council and aid in sending messages of faith to her followers. Powers As the mother of all Silver Dragons, Ester Pyx has the abilities that all silver dragons have, amplified to levels deserved by a goddess. And as a Dragon-God, she also has the abilities of a deity truly built to protect her territory and her people. Breath Weapons As a dragon whose eye alone is larger than even the strongest of men, Ester Pyx's breath weapons are so all-consuming that they can smother entire cities in the blink of an eye. Her Cold Breath covers over ten miles within seconds. Ice embraces all creatures caught within, encasing all that it covers in a thick layer of ice. The sheer destructive power of it could put all land it touches into a forced ice age, coating the land in permafrost for 100 years or longer based on how long the breath was executed. Knowing how dangerous this ability is, she chooses to only use it when the fate of Halintar itself is in danger; out of all recorded history, it's only been witnessed by mortals five times, the last time being during the Battle of Roaring Skies. Meanwhile, Pyx's Paralysis Breath is just as deadly and ever-encompassing. Dense, bone-chilling fog eclipses the sky itself, blurring the vision of those trapped in it's range before forcing their body to come to a complete halt. The fact that this breath does not mar the land it comes into contact with makes it excellent crowd control, stopping entire armies in their tracks. She most often uses this breath when foolhardy foes attempt to breach her Citadel, after which she sends her great army and her noble brood out to execute them where they stand. Environmental Manipulation Like all Dragon-Gods, Ester Pyx is able to heavily manipulate the weather throughout the entirety of the Great Northwest. She seems to be the one who utilizes it the most, calling forth clouded, stormy days in times of mourning and brilliant snowfall in times of celebration and joy. The country remains fairly chilly throughout the year because of this, only really warming up during the hottest parts of the Equinox. The most notorious day Pyx utilizes this ability is on the day of the Last Snow. Near the end of the Silver Solstice, she summons forth a great snowfall that coats almost all of Halintar, only really missing the Southern Mantle. This snow is pure and clean as can be, as well as more resistant to melting than usual, leading to many people harvesting it and storing it underground to save for later. Many places even outside of her territory celebrate the day, as it marks the end of the cold season and rings in the warmer part of the year. Fortification Ester Pyx, as well as some of the most ancient members of her brood, have learned to transform their ice into stone over a period of time. By focusing their breath weapon into certain shapes and then casting magic upon it over the course of several days or weeks (depending on the size of the structure), they can transmute it into solid, chilled stone. This ability is most often used to expand or repair damaged territory, especially buildings or places that require landing pads for the dragons themselves. Pyx, as well as some of the more artisan-focused dragons, have learned how to take this ability a step further and transmute their breath into cold-formed steel, selling it to blacksmiths or using it to craft armor and weaponry of their own. Items made of this steel are incredibly valuable and rare... not to mention heavily regulated to prevent it from leaving the hands of any of their soldiers. In fact, knowledge of this kind of steel is often only held by those native to the Northwest or general metal-smithing enthusiasts. Noble Presence Like all dragons, Ester Pyx has an aura of nobility and power about her that inspires awe and fear in all those before her. Even spotting her immense body from miles away can cause man and beast alike to stop and admire (or fear) her. History (See: Halintar's Creation Myth) The Duplicity of the Dwarves Many eons ago, Ester Pyx was not the patron Dragon-God of humanity- no, she was that of the dwarves, a race that proudly lived alongside the silver dragons deep within their mountain fortress. At this time, humans were no more than wandering nomads, constantly roaming from country to country as shelter and protection from a deity constantly evaded them. No god before then wanted them to stay for too long, ever-worried about the godlessness that humanity was plagued with. However, after millennia of cooperation, the dwarves' pride swelled to proportions unheard of. Their hearts grasped by a hunger for wealth and power, they turned against their draconic brethren, even stealing from the hoard of Pyx herself. They threatened to destroy all that the two races had built together, driving the dragons out in order to pillage from their homes. Rather than decimate the land she and her brood had called home for countless eras, Ester Pyx hatched a brilliant plan. Seeing the humans, humble and homeless, she reached out to them with her holy light to find the noblest of their people. These individuals became the First Order of the Crusaders of the Sterling Serpent, who formed a grand army of dragon and men that drove out the treasonous dwarves, hunting them down till all those who remained had fled to the sea, where their descendants now live as Salt Dwarves. Because of this historic event, many humans consider the bond between Ester Pyx and humanity as deeper than any other bond between a lone race and their draconic creator. The connection between the two is built of honor and blood, rather than simply being "created" by their deity. Upon Pyx and the silvers took humanity under their wing, they groomed their civilization into an honorable society focused on maintaining law and order. Preaching humility also became a major pillar in their code of conduct, learning from that of their failed past. Negotiating Peace (See: The Great Truce) After the Battle of Roaring Skies stole the life of Ester Pyx's most beloved daughter, the goddess began to truly rethink why war was really necessary between the six Dragon-Gods. Much deliberating occurred, after which the silver deity proposed a true truce for all six countries. In a surprising twist of events, all the gods chose to listen to Pyx's offer, eventually leading to the event known as the Great Truce. Twenty years of peace have passed since then, during which Ester Pyx's people, human and dragon alike, have prospered. Relationships Other Dragon-Gods Paradoxie The relationship between Ester Pyx and Paradoxie has been one of the most stable ones out of all the connections between the deities. While Pyx does not approve of her younger sister's overly trusting attitude towards foreigners, she does appreciate the bronze goddess's efforts to maintain positive relationships with the other continents. Pyx also respects how the elegant and potent magic of the bronze dragons makes up for their lack of physical prowess compared to her own silver children. Paradoxie and Pyx have maintained stable trade between their countries for many, many centuries, which has also led to the Great Northwest being one of the more well-known countries throughout the rest of the Big Stretch. Dinante Though the two of them have highly contrasting views on how to properly run a country, Pyx and Dinante both concede to the fact that they, as Chromatic dragons, should strive to try and both work towards the greater good. This has not stopped them from warring against each other in the past, usually over control of territory close to the High North, which allows them to ward the continent against those who may get past the bronze goddess and pose a threat to the rest of the continent. Peace time has caused more civil debate to occur between Pyx and Dinante, leading to intense debates on morality that can last for weeks at a time. Their peoples try to keep the two away from each other as much as they can help it. Balktan Like all of Balktan's other siblings, Ester Pyx has a distaste for even having to speak Balktan's name. She has an especially large grudge against him for allowing the dwarves to continue to exist within his domain, even though they are clearly more twisted than they had ever been prior. Ester Pyx orders her soldiers to slay any yellow dragons they spot in their territory on sight, and report those that they find outside their country to whatever government may exist in the given area. Tephra Ester Pyx and Tephra are the two greatest rivals in all of Halintar, constantly warring against each other all the way up till the day the Great Truce was made. Their endless battle caused the Battlefield to become the marred, lifeless, nearly perfectly flat landscape it is today. This battling, as well as the interference of Karomatzu's forces, caused the planar distortion within the Colossal Covert that eventually led to the creation of the Plantfolk. Tephra and Pyx's people are just as hateful towards one another even after the Truce was created, often causing fights to break out when loyalists to said deities come to meet. Karomatzu Unlike how Pyx has reverence for Paradoxie's magic, she sees Karomatzu's skills as inferior and a sign of overcompensating for his bodily weakness. She believes that the poor state of his country- sickly swamplands and harsh, thin peaks- are due to his negligence in taking care of his duties as a Dragon-God. Pyx also accuses him of being a coward, often allying himself with Tephra simply so that her (much more qualified) fighters could help defend his territory instead of getting his own claws dirty or even trying to muster up enough of a militia to defend himself. Some would call her distaste for his vanity ironic, considering how frequently she emblazons her own visage onto her soldier's gear and throughout her churches. Such discussion is considered blasphemous in her territory, though many of her worshipers will simply shun you rather than report you to the law for it. Worshipers (See: The Crusaders of the Sterling Serpent) Followers of Pyx are expected to pray to her frequently and observe all days declared holy, whether they be yearly holidays or honoring of soldiers. If they live within the Great Northwest, they're also made to pay a tax to her and her Crusaders, who guard them from the many beasts that roam the mountainous terrain. Activities Being that her presence is so massive, Ester Pyx spends much of her time either resting on her throne on the highest peak of Halintar or patrolling the skies above her territory. The Main Chamber of the Whiteshock Citadel is barely large enough for her to circle above in, an activity she only does for ceremonies involving the Crusaders. Her outline in the skies and on her throne can be seen even from the lower valleys of the country, and many use it as a way to measure how far away they are from the Citadel itself. Category:Deities Category:Dragons Category:Dragon Gods Category:Silver Dragons